Re-opening of National Flexible Framework for Care and Support Services (New entrants April 2022)

This Flexible Framework is intended to allow Councils and associate members/other bodies to procure a variety of Care and Support Services, as further described within the procurement documents attached to this contract notice. Councils in Scotland may have their own current arrangements for the purchase of Care and Support Services. Current care packages, agreed under different arrangements, will not necessarily transfer over to this new Flexible Framework. This will be a decision for Councils to make in line with their assessment and review process. Scotland Excel elects to use the ESPD in this exercise in respect of exclusion grounds and selection criteria for this Flexible Framework, as a matter of best practice. A word version of this document is attached for completion. Changes to previously advertised procedures, taking cognisance of the current situation and impact during the tender exercise of the Corona virus outbreak: Providers require to evidence possession of the minimum Care Inspection quality criteria of Grade 3 for Care and Support at the time of application to be included in the Flexible Framework (as set out in III.1.4, below), however, having taken cognisance of the impact the Corona Virus pandemic has had on Care Inspectorate inspections, for this current re-opening of the Flexible Framework, Providers may still apply if they reasonably anticipate the Services in their offer meeting the Care Inspectorate Grade quality criteria before the conclusion of the evaluation of all offers, (hereafter referred to as “the evaluation deadline”) currently envisaged to be 1 March 2022, but which date will be notified to Providers by Scotland Excel in writing. If tenderers cannot evidence that they meet all of the criteria in advance of the evaluation deadline (referred to above), Scotland Excel will be unable to proceed to award. In line with the framework specification, should any of the defined terms, procedures or any other regulated matter become subject to any change in the Law, resulting in any change to the defined terms, or to the manner in which such procedures or other matters require to be dealt with, then such changes shall take precedence over that contained in the flexible framework. As such, workforce matters which change as a result of the implementation of national policy directives will be considered in line with the framework variation procedures. IMPORTANT NOTE: DATES QUOTED ABOVE MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this process if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, the Invitation to Tender contained on PCS and is relevant to this procurement and the other procurement documents for further information.